Football
ESPN staff 8y

Hoffenheim to give ticket surcharges back to Dortmund charity

TSG Hoffenheim will donate additional revenue from the top match surcharge against Borussia Dortmund to their opponent's charity, the club have announced.

Dortmund fans had started a boycott of the match because of the high ticket prices.

Hoffenheim have divided all Bundesliga clubs into three price categories. Dortmund and Bayern Munich are in the highest category, and away fans have been charged €55 for the cheapest seat, €30 more than for the fans of the clubs from the lowest category.

Although roughly two-thirds of the tickets sold to away fans are standing tickets for the price of €18, organised BVB fans announced a boycott of the match because of the top match surcharge for the seats.

Dortmund have been unable to sell all away tickets, and were forced to send 800 of the 3,000 tickets back to Hoffenheim on Monday. BVB officials also reached out to the club's major stakeholder Dietmar Hopp, and "expressed their disappointment at the top-match surcharge," Dortmund wrote on their official website.

On Tuesday, Hoffenheim announced their decision to donate additional revenue to Borussia Dortmund's Learning Centre, an initiative launched by the club's "Leuchte Auf!" (Light Up) foundation.

"For the benefit of our fans, we are delighted that TSG Hoffenheim have promised reasonable prices for the future and would like to thank Dietmar Hopp for exercising his personal influence," Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke said.

Hopp added: "TSG 1899 Hoffenheim has a real interest in making football and all of the values associated with the sport accessible to all people."

The club's media director Holger Kliem told ESPN FC that while it's not a complete rejection of top match surcharges for away fans, Hoffenheim intend to implant a "more moderate price structure" in their future planning.

Hoffenheim had previously already announced that the additional revenue, €100,000, from the top match surcharge for the home fans will be put towards local refugee help.

"Thanks to everyone, who has fought for Kein Zwanni. That is your success! You are the coolest," the Kein Zwanni campaign organising the boycott wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

Kein Zwanni originally started out in 2010, fighting price hikes in German football. The name can be roughly translated into "Don't pay more than €20" and was intended to fight ticket prices of over €20 for a standing ticket, but it has since adapted the "football has to be affordable" claim

A press release read: "Bundesliga still is the league in Europe which combines the factors of 'active fan involvement' and 'full stadiums' best. Whoever talks to fans from other parts of Europe will realise how envious they are of Germany.

"To give that up to enter a race with Premier League which can't be won will damage German football in total. We should not repeat the mistakes made in England and turn the matchday experience into an event without atmosphere for the higher earners and tourists."

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